Gondwanaland

Thanks to my friend and neighbor, fellow Green Chris Robinson, I learned of somewhere else to send my account of my Election Day experience that for whatever reason the Germantown Chronicle didn't print. It turns out the Mayor's office is soliciting people's stories about that day, so I copied mine to his web page created for this purpose.

Also thanks to Chris, I learned that City Commissioner Stephanie Singer is holding classes for people seeking neighborhood leadership positions such as block captain, committeeperson, and election board. I've attended two of them and she knows my face now. She says she's glad there's an effort to build the Green Party in this city. She herself was a Democratic ward leader before voluntarily resigning that post after her election to the Commission, but perhaps appreciates that her party would function better with a more credible opposition than the GOP has much chance of becoming here.

On another front, I attended a speed dating event at the central library Monday, where I selected about half of the thirteen women I met and was matched with two of them. I'd attended a commercial speed dating event in 2002, where I selected four out of ten women but didn't match anyone.

I invited one of them to a Valentine's Day Dessert Party and Buddhist Love Panel last night, of which I'd learned after attending a free meditation class at the PCI library off Rittenhouse Square. (Even prior to the class, I'd started getting results practicing mindfulness on my own.) I only invited one to avoid any awkwardness, but she didn't show and hasn't responded to my email as of about 6:30 yesterday evening.

The people were friendly and the practical advice from the panel (answering written questions submitted in advance) seemed psychologically sound, but I don't subscribe to the metaphysical aspects like belief in reincarnation. A couple people to which I mentioned this said I could just take the parts I find useful.

P.S. Singer says that the best thing to do in view of improper conduct such as I witnessed would be to call the district attorney. A call from him to the Judge of Election would probably stop the problem behavior. She pointed out to me that since election board workers are elected, they haven't necessarily attended the trainig and so may not realize what's permitted and what isn't.